Better to play Russian roulette
It seems that our generals value their face more than the lives of their men, as shown by the GT200 and Alpha 6 bomb detectors.
A total of 1,576 of these detectors were bought by 13 agencies, with the Ordinance Department being the biggest buyer, putting out Bt300 million of your money and mine to buy 697 GT200 units.
Our Ministry of Science and Technology tested the GT200 and Alpha 6 many times, and found they had a one-in-five chance of being successful in detecting a bomb. That’s like having our bomb squads play Russian roulette every day, with four of the five chambers in their revolvers loaded. They’d have a far higher chance of living if they flipped a coin.
And yet Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat and Supreme Commander Thanasak Patimakorn insist that the devices are effective, and they continue to be used.
For the generals to about-face and admit they’ve been scammed would make them lose a lot of face. It would also open the way for an unwanted investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Commission – especially since ACM Sukumpol was responsible for the purchase, when he was Air Force chief of staff.
How sad that our generals seem to place their personal interests above their men’s lives.
How sad, too, that neither Pheu Thai nor the red shirts, who claim to represent the lowly enlisted men whose lives are daily at stake in the deep South, don’t raise a stink about it – and neither do you, dear reader, even though those men are dying for you.
Burin Kantabutra
Bangkok
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